99-27965. Customs Bonded Warehouses  

  • [Federal Register Volume 64, Number 206 (Tuesday, October 26, 1999)]
    [Rules and Regulations]
    [Pages 57564-57565]
    From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
    [FR Doc No: 99-27965]
    
    
    =======================================================================
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
    
    Customs Service
    
    19 CFR Part 19
    
    [T.D. 99-78]
    RIN 1515-AC41
    
    
    Customs Bonded Warehouses
    
    AGENCY: Customs Service, Department of the Treasury.
    
    ACTION: Final rule.
    
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    SUMMARY: This document amends the Customs Regulations regarding the 
    filing of certain inventory reports by bonded warehouse proprietors. 
    Instead of requiring that these reports be filed with Customs, the 
    document requires that bonded warehouse proprietors maintain these 
    inventory reports after their preparation. In some instances when the 
    inventory report is prepared, a letter must be submitted to Customs 
    certifying that the report has been prepared. As amended, the port 
    director is the Customs officer to whom certification letters must be 
    submitted and to whom the annual report covering smelting or refining 
    operations must be submitted. These changes and other changes made by 
    this document are intended to simplify inventory recordkeeping 
    procedures for warehouse proprietors. The changes are consistent with 
    Customs' movement toward a post-audit environment and the spirit of 
    ``shared responsibility'' embodied in the Customs Modernization 
    provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation 
    Act.
    
    EFFECTIVE DATE: November 26, 1999.
    
    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Edward Bowles, Senior Auditor, 
    Regulatory Audit Division, (202-927-0071).
    
    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    
    Background
    
        By a document published in the Federal Register (64 FR 16868) on 
    April 7, 1999, Customs proposed several amendments to part 19, Customs 
    Regulations (19 CFR part 19), concerning the submission to Customs of 
    certain inventory reports covering merchandise in a bonded warehouse. 
    Instead of requiring that certain reports be filed with Customs, the 
    document proposed to amend the Customs Regulations to require that 
    bonded warehouse proprietors maintain these inventory reports after 
    their preparation. In certain instances, when the inventory report is 
    prepared, a letter must be submitted to Customs certifying that the 
    report has been prepared. Under the proposed amendment, the port 
    director would be the Customs officer to whom certification letters 
    would be submitted and to whom the annual report covering smelting or 
    refining operations would be submitted. These proposed changes and 
    other changes contained in the proposed rule were intended to simplify 
    inventory recordkeeping procedures for warehouse proprietors and are 
    consistent with Customs' movement toward a post-audit environment and 
    the spirit of ``shared responsibility'' embodied in the Customs 
    Modernization provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement 
    Implementation Act (Pub. L. 103-182).
    
    Adoption of Proposal
    
        No comments were received from the public in response to the 
    proposed rule. Following further consideration and review of the 
    matter, Customs has determined that the proposed rule published in the 
    Federal Register (64 FR 16868) on April 7, 1999, should be adopted as a 
    final rule without change.
    
    The Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order 12866
    
        The amendments are intended to simplify inventory recordkeeping 
    procedures for warehouse proprietors and be consistent with Customs' 
    movement toward a post-audit environment and the spirit of ``shared 
    responsibility'' embodied in the Customs Modernization provisions of 
    the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act. As such, 
    pursuant to the provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 
    601 et seq.), it is certified that the amendments will not have a 
    significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
    Accordingly, they are not subject to the regulatory analysis or other 
    requirements of 5 U.S.C. 603 and 604. Nor do the amendments result in a 
    ``significant regulatory action'' under E.O. 12866.
    
    Paperwork Reduction Act
    
        The collections of information contained in this rulemaking have 
    been previously reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and 
    Budget (OMB) in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and 
    assigned the following OMB control numbers: 1515-0093 for bonded 
    warehouse proprietor's submissions; 1515-0121 for information to be 
    supplied by owners or lessees in support of applications to establish a 
    bonded warehouse facility; 1515-0127 for applications by manufacturers 
    to bond (or discontinue a previously bonded) an establishment engaged 
    in the smelting or refining of metal-bearing materials; and 1515-0135 
    for records of smelting or refining operations showing receipt and 
    disposition of each
    
    [[Page 57565]]
    
    shipment of material. This document restates the collections of 
    information without substantive change.
        An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required 
    to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid 
    control number assigned by OMB.
        Comments concerning suggestions for reducing the burden of the 
    collections of information should be sent to the Regulations Branch, 
    Office of Regulations and Rulings, U.S. Customs Service, 1300 
    Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20229. A copy 
    should also be sent to U.S. Customs Service, Information Services 
    Group, Attention: J. Edgar Nichols, Room 3.2-C, 1300 Pennsylvania 
    Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20229.
    
    List of Subjects in 19 CFR Part 19
    
        Customs duties and inspection, Exports, Freight, Imports, Reporting 
    and recordkeeping requirements, Warehouses.
    
    Amendments to the Regulations
    
        Part 19, Customs Regulations (19 CFR part 19), is amended as set 
    forth below.
    
    PART 19--CUSTOMS WAREHOUSES, CONTAINER STATIONS, AND CONTROL OF 
    MERCHANDISE THEREIN
    
        1. The general authority citation for part 19, and the relevant 
    sectional authority citation, continue to read as follows:
    
        Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 19 U.S.C. 66, 1202 (General Note 20, 
    Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States), 1624.
    * * * * *
        Sections 19.17-19.25 also issued under 19 U.S.C. 1312;
    * * * * *
        2. Section 19.12 is amended by revising the seventh and eighth 
    sentences of paragraph (d)(3), by revising the first sentence of 
    paragraph (g), adding a sentence thereafter, and revising the last 
    sentence of paragraph (g), and by revising the first sentence, 
    respectively, of paragraphs (h)(1) and (h)(3), to read as follows:
    
    
    Sec. 19.12  Inventory control and recordkeeping system.
    
    * * * * *
        (d) Accountability for merchandise in a warehouse. * * *
        (3) Theft, shortage, overage or damage. * * * The proprietor must 
    also record all shortages and overages as required in the Customs Form 
    300 or annual reconciliation report under paragraphs (g) or (h) of this 
    section, as appropriate. Duties and taxes applicable to any non-
    extraordinary shortage or damage and not required to be paid earlier 
    must be reported and submitted to the port director no later than the 
    date the certification of preparation of Customs Form 300 is due or at 
    the time the certification of preparation of the annual reconciliation 
    report is due, as prescribed in paragraphs (g) or (h) of this section. 
    * * *
    * * * * *
        (g) Warehouse proprietor submission. Except as otherwise provided 
    in paragraph (h) of this section or Sec. 19.19(b) of this part, the 
    warehouse proprietor must prepare a Warehouse Proprietor's Submission 
    on Customs Form (CF) 300 within 45 calendar days from the end of the 
    business year and maintain the Submission on file for 5 years from the 
    end of the business year covered by the Submission. The proprietor must 
    submit to the port director, within 10 business days after preparation 
    of the CF 300, a letter signed by the proprietor certifying that the CF 
    300 has been prepared, is available for Customs review, and is 
    accurate. * * * An alternative format may be used for providing the 
    information required on the CF 300.
        (h) Annual reconciliation. * * *
        (1) Report. Instead of preparing Customs Form 300 as required under 
    paragraph (g) of this section, the proprietor of a class 2, importers' 
    private bonded warehouse, and proprietors of classes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 
    9 warehouses if the warehouse proprietor and the importer are the same 
    party, must prepare a reconciliation report within 90 days after the 
    end of the fiscal year unless the port director authorizes an extension 
    for reasonable cause. * * *
    * * * * *
        (3) Certification. The proprietor must submit to the port director 
    within 10 business days after preparation of the annual reconciliation 
    report, a letter signed by the proprietor certifying that the annual 
    reconciliation has been prepared, is available for Customs review, and 
    is accurate. * * *
    * * * * *
        3. Section 19.17 is amended by revising the first and second 
    sentences of paragraph (g) to read as follows:
    
    
    Sec. 19.17  Application to establish warehouse; bond.
    
    * * * * *
        (g) Statement of inventory and bond charges. Where two or more 
    smelting or refining warehouses are included under one blanket smelting 
    and refining bond, an overall statement must be prepared and maintained 
    by the principal named in the bond by the 28th of each month, showing 
    the inventory as of the close of the preceding month, of all metals on 
    hand at each plant covered by the blanket bond and the total of bonded 
    charges for all plants. If the warehouses covered by an overall 
    statement are located in more than one port, each port director may 
    choose to verify the accuracy of the inventory report only with respect 
    to that portion of the report that relates to amounts held at a plant 
    that is located within that port director's jurisdiction. * * *
        4. Section 19.19 is amended by revising the first sentence of 
    paragraph (b) to read as follows:
    
    
    Sec. 19.19  Manufacturers' records; annual statement.
    
    * * * * *
        (b) Every manufacturer engaged in smelting or refining, or both, 
    must prepare and submit to the port director at the port nearest which 
    the plant is located an annual statement for the fiscal year for the 
    plant involved not later than 60 days after the termination of that 
    fiscal year. * * *
    Raymond W. Kelly,
    Commissioner of Customs.
    
        Approved: September 15, 1999.
    John P. Simpson,
    Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.
    [FR Doc. 99-27965 Filed 10-25-99; 8:45 am]
    BILLING CODE 4820-02-P
    
    
    

Document Information

Effective Date:
11/26/1999
Published:
10/26/1999
Department:
Customs Service
Entry Type:
Rule
Action:
Final rule.
Document Number:
99-27965
Dates:
November 26, 1999.
Pages:
57564-57565 (2 pages)
Docket Numbers:
T.D. 99-78
RINs:
1515-AC41: Customs Bonded Warehouses
RIN Links:
https://www.federalregister.gov/regulations/1515-AC41/customs-bonded-warehouses
PDF File:
99-27965.pdf
CFR: (3)
19 CFR 19.12
19 CFR 19.17
19 CFR 19.19